Top 7 Recycled Fashion Designs of 2012 (Vote for the Most Creative!)

Speedo Unity Gown

As someone far cleverer than us once said, trash is a failure of the imagination. From jewelry recast from confiscated AK-47 rifles to a "Joan of Arc" armor made of discarded bicycle inner tubes, here are this year's best examples of "waste not, want not."

Recycled Joan of Arc Armor

SUIT UP
Chicago-based designer Grace Duval borrowed a page from Joan of Arc's playbook to create a full-bodied armor fit for the mother of all martyrs herself. Comprising a jointed corset with protective shoulder and arm pieces, the medieval-style suit could easily be mistaken for finely wrought steel. Look closer, however, and the deftly manipulated strips of rubber—derived from old bicycle inner tubes—are unmistakable.

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Mariclaro Recycled Airbags

TRAVEL LIGHT
Where do exploded air bags go to die? If you ask Mariclaro, they don’t. The Toronto-based accessories label salvages truck tarps, leather upholstery, seat belts, bicycle inner tubes, boat sails, and yes, exploded air bags, to create a range of road-tested laptop sleeves, messenger bags, briefcases, and backpacks. Of the materials that comprise each piece, roughly 99 percent was landfill-bound, according to co-founders Sven Schlegel and Willa Murray, who intercept the materials within 300 miles of their workshop. (“1 percent is made of notions and our logo, still unavailable in recycled,” Schlegel says.)

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Levis WasteLess Jeans

WASTE LESS
The original blue-jean company is going green with “Waste<Less,” an upcoming collection of denim that incorporates post-consumer waste, specifically plastic bottles and food trays. Set to debut in January, the line of skinny jeans, straight-fit jeans, and trucker jackets will comprise a minimum of 20 percent recycled content, or the equivalent of eight 12- to 20-ounce bottles per jean. The entire collection is expected to utilize over 3.5 million recycled bottles, according to Levi’s.

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Fonderie 47

SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES
Fonderie 47 is on a mission to turn weapons of mass destruction into implements of mass distraction. The burgeoning enterprise, co-founded by Ethos Water CEO Peter Thum, transforms confiscated AK-47 rifles from the Democratic Republic of Congo into ornate accessories that belie their violent history. By melting down the steel components, and working with jewelers Philip Crangi and Roland Iten to refashion them with gold into rings, earrings, and cuff links, Fonderie 47 has successfully removed more than 6,000 assault rifles from the war-ravaged nation.

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Recycled Slide Dress

MOVIE MAGIC
Need the perfect frock for your next movie premiere? Emily Steel’s “Little Slide Dress” is positively cinematic. The Victoria University of Wellington student constructed her little black dress using individual film slides, which she backed with light-sensitive LEDs. By day, the dress is a gloss-black number with subtle hints of its true provenance. At night, the LEDs flicker to life, pulsing gently to reveal the captured images.

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Recycled Coach Baseball Wallet

PLAY BALL
Batter up with the ultimate gift for the baseball fanatic—well, next to season tickets at Wrigley or Fenway, anyway. In honor of the sport that inspired its line of leather goods in 1941, Coach released a limited-edition billfold, hand-pieced from 70-year-old vintage catcher’s mitts. Only 200 have been made, each one wearing its original scuffs and bruises like a badge of honor. Home run? We think so.

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